What a night last night for local businesses at The Best of Neath Networking hosted by Neath Rugby at the John Smiths Gnoll. It was brilliant. There was a fantastic turn out of local businesses (87) and what a buzz in the room all night. People were making excellent contacts and building up great relationships to use each others services and support each other in the future.

Firstly, a very special thank you to Deenna, Rachel, Colin and the staff (players included) at Neath Rugby. What a fantastic evening, the buffet was excellent, the prizes donated were fabulous, the venue brilliant and what a lovely way to display the hospitality table. We will certainly be using The John Smiths Gnoll in future events. If local businesses have never used the John Smiths Gnoll for entertainment or events then they should; especially now with the ground share with Neath Football Club who are infact playing Swansea City, Blackburn Rovers and Coventry City all in pre season friendlies at The Gnoll. Neath Rugby have also got a couple of big English Premier League friendlies at the Gnoll but I will let them announce that in the near future.

Matt from Bransby IT. A very special thanks for donating the main members business card prize draw. You are such a supportive person of these events and if local companies are not using your services for IT support then they should be! Congratulations to Sam Hawking of Sam Hawking & Co for winning the ipod touch. Sam didn't know exactly what it was but he says that he will use it on his sponsored row. Sam is rowing across the Indian Ocean next year for charity with Guy Griffiths the local Director of BNI in Wales. They plan to row constantly across the ocean, a journey expected to take 6 weeks taking it in turns to row 2 hours on, 2 hours off. If we as a Neath Business community can support them in any way then we should. Sam just ask what you need!!! Sams tag line is 'The Strongest Link in Your Chain'. He will certainly need that, but on a professional note call Sam for any conveyancing work because he is GOOD! He even cycles to work everyday from London Road, Neath to Station Road Port Talbot. Great for the environment Sam.

Catherine from Affirmation Photography. Thanks again for taking the photos on the evening and as soon as Catherine has got them live on her website then I will send out the link straight away. She is such a lovely life style and wedding photographer so if you met Catherine last night then give her a call.

Chris Hastings for the musical entertainment. Thanks Chris, again great music to welcome the guests and what a lovely idea to play in the background during the open social networking. It really made for a great atmosphere.

Thanks Caroline from Head Kandi for donating a prize at the Salon. Also I would like to thank you for letting us share how The Best of Neath has benefited your business in the last year or so. Did you know that Caroline a local hairdresser has found 200 new clients with the Best of Neath in the last 18 months? Guess what? She has kept them as well because she is good. She even has clients come from London every 6-8 weeks. Guess how they found out about Caroline? Yes, The Best of Neath, sorry my little plug!!!!

Who is at these events? Well, any business that is Neath based or based in the local surrounding area who wants to improve their profile and standing in the Neath area. For example we had Welsh Small Business of The Year 2008 attend, Call of The Wild a fantastic achievement for a local Neath business and thanks to Mark and Mike for coming along. We had Sex in the City cup cake stars La Creme Patisserie but also IFA's, sole traders, Banks, business support, photographers, health clubs (lovely to see Patricia and Genna from Curves for the first time), great to see Gareth from Everglade windows and Mike Leahy because he will never forgive me for not mentioning his name.